Environmental Wellness

Environmental wellness is the ability to recognize the impact of our personal and environmental decisions, and recognize our own responsibility of taking care of the quality of our environment and surroundings. According to Western’s iwellness page, this process involves the act of establishing a sustainable lifestyle, protecting natural resources, and eliminating pollutants and excessive waste.

In the initial wellness quiz I posted, the quiz had 3 statements you had to rate pertaining to environmental wellness: “I care for and respect the environment and the community,” “I am aware of the risks within my environment and make adjustments to my lifestyle accordingly (e.g. travel health, personal safety),” and “I try to live an eco-friendly lifestyle (e.g. buying local food, driving less, turning the lights off),” (if you haven’t already, take the time to take the quiz now to see how balanced you are in the environmental section of wellness, as well as all other sections of wellness – link is in the sources). If you are looking for something more specific, try the Environmental Wellness Assessment here: http://definitionofwellness.com/dimensions-of-wellness/environmental-wellness/

Signs of positive environmental wellness include:

Being aware of how your decisions have an impact on the environment
Following the 4 R’s à reduce, re-use, re-think, recycle
Not polluting the air, water, or earth if you can avoid doing so
Leading a lifestyle that is overall respectful of and in harmony with the environment

Habits to adopt to enhance your environmental wellness:

Choose to walk or ride your bicycle whenever possible (Purple Bikes http://westernusc.ca/purplebikes)
Protect yourself from environmental hazards such as second-hand smoke, air and water pollution, UV rays, etc.
Use reusable shopping bags
Don’t leave the water running when washing your dishes and brushing your teeth
Turn off your lights and use energy efficient light bulbs to conserve energy
Visit farmers markets and eat locally produced foods
Try to print less and use online resources instead and/or share resources with other students
Use reusable containers, coffee mug, and water bottles
Use toxic-free cleaning products
Unplug/turn off electronics you are not using
Educate yourself on environment issues and what you can do to help
Join an organization that is involved in the environment